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<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/28116978">Outclassed</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/youcouldmakealife/pseuds/youcouldmakealife'>youcouldmakealife</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Series:</b></td><td>Impaired Judgment (and other excuses) [128]</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>Original Work</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>M/M, YCMAL 'verse</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>Completed</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2020-12-16</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2020-12-16</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-10 23:27:32</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>Teen And Up Audiences</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>No Archive Warnings Apply</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>1</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>2,424</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/28116978</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/youcouldmakealife/pseuds/youcouldmakealife</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>The Canucks beat the Golden Seals in front of a grumpy Oakland crowd, get home in the middle of the night, everyone breaking off with yawns, all the celebratory energy worked out on the plane. Jared drives home half-asleep, finds a very sleepy Bryce on the couch waiting up for him.</p><p>“Go to bed,” Jared says, pokes him up to their room and then follows suit. He wakes up at ten-forty five — the latest he’s gotten up since the postseason started — to a kiss to the forehead, a cup of coffee handed to him, the immediate awareness that the Nucks did it, they’ve got at least another round to battle through. As ways to wake up go, it’s pretty fucking great.</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Relationships:</b></td><td>OMC/OMC</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Series:</b></td><td>Impaired Judgment (and other excuses) [128]</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Series URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/series/849798</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Comments:</b></td><td>14</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>293</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>Outclassed</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>The Canucks beat the Golden Seals in front of a grumpy Oakland crowd, get home in the middle of the night, everyone breaking off with yawns, all the celebratory energy worked out on the plane. Jared drives home half-asleep, finds a very sleepy Bryce on the couch waiting up for him.</p><p>“Go to bed,” Jared says, pokes him up to their room and then follows suit. He wakes up at ten-forty five — the latest he’s gotten up since the postseason started — to a kiss to the forehead, a cup of coffee handed to him, the immediate awareness that the Nucks did it, they’ve got at least another round to battle through. As ways to wake up go, it’s pretty fucking great.</p><p>He has a chill day with Bryce and Elaine, gets to enjoy the feeling, and then it’s right back into things. The Canucks have a date with the Avalanche, and Jared goes back to eat sleeping breathing hockey, though he does try to make some time for Bryce now that they’re in the same place. Bryce isn’t offended by Jared living hockey, and it’s actually helpful as hell to have him right there beside him. Bryce watches the earlier Avs games with him, arm slung over Jared’s shoulder, making smart observations, has advice for Jared before and after every game. It’s like having a game tape coach and a husband all in one, it’s terrific.</p><p>It’s a hard fought, ugly series that takes a few of the Canucks with it, Dmitry unfortunately one of them — Jared guesses the line’s still cursed, though he’s selfishly glad he’s not the latest to fall victim to that — but the Canucks scrape out a win in seven, and they’re going to the Western Conference Finals, which is an incredible fucking feeling.</p><p>Jared can’t say he’s surprised by who they’re going to be facing.</p><p>He can’t say he’s particularly pleased about it either.</p><p>*</p><p>“Okay,” Bryce says. “Here’s the lowdown about the Scouts.”</p><p>“Fuck the Scouts?” Jared says.</p><p>“Fuck the Scouts,” Bryce says. “But seriously.”</p><p>And then Jared’s getting something that isn’t quite a rant but <i>is</i> basically an insider report on pretty much all of the Scouts, because Bryce is clearly still pissed about that series, and he’s got a MENSA level hockey IQ. He was up against the first line, which Jared isn’t going to be facing much if at all, but he was apparently paying very close attention on the bench as well, and at a certain point Jared starts taking literal notes on his phone, trying to keep up. Soon after that point he has to stop Bryce because he thinks Gabe should hear it too.</p><p>That ends up with them in Gabe and Stephen’s dining room, Bryce grimly talking strengths and weaknesses — there are unfortunately far more of the former than the latter — and Gabe pulls out a white board he got from who knows where, and then there’s a lot of diagramming, and Jared knew Bryce was smart about hockey, he’s known that almost from the very beginning, but if Bryce doesn’t end up coaching after he retires it’ll be a travesty.</p><p>“I can’t believe you turned our dining room into the damn big oil war room,” Stephen mutters from the corner, where he’s working on some WHL scouting report.</p><p>“Hey!” Jared says, torn from strategy. “You talking about my new Premier?”</p><p>“Holy fuck,” Stephen says after a moment. “No offence but if you voted for him him I’m kicking you out of our house right now.”</p><p>Jared takes no offence. “Obviously I didn’t fucking vote for him,” Jared says. “Dude’s a corrupt megalomaniac with an oil rig where his heart should be.”</p><p>“Are we talking about Kenney?” Bryce complains. “Politics are boring.”</p><p>“Politics are how we were able to get married, B,” Jared says, and Bryce somehow hums agreement and whines at the same time.</p><p>“These kids,” Gabe says to Stephen. “Bet they don’t even remember when gay marriage was legalised.”</p><p>“I do,” Bryce protests. “Sort of.”</p><p>Jared shrugs. “I was a little kid?” he says. “I wasn’t really paying attention.”</p><p>“Get out of my house,” Stephen says, but he says that all the time, and Jared no longer listens to him. Well, he probably genuinely meant it if Jared was a UCP supporter, but obviously Jared isn’t — he was raised by hobgoblins, not actual monsters. “Now let’s do Ford.”</p><p>“While I enjoy trashing Doug Ford as much as the next Ontarian,” Gabe says. “Strategy session.”</p><p>“It’s always hockey with you hockey players,” Stephen grumbles, like he isn’t literally doing hockey business of his own, but when they get back into it he has a number of helpful comments that are only occasionally accompanied by snark. </p><p>They take a break in the backyard when Gabe is fielding a call from his parents and Stephen has one for work. It’s a nice day, sunny bright, something Jared appreciates a lot more in Vancouver due to the rarity. </p><p>“Stephen’s a lot,” Bryce says, all blink-y about it. Stephen isn’t even being extra Stephen, he’s just normal level Stephen, but then, Jared probably has a higher tolerance for snide, since he so often is himself. Though you’d think Bryce would be used to it too, considering who he’s married to. Maybe he’s just got immunity to Jared’s particular brand of it after enough exposure.</p><p>“I told you he was mean,” Jared says. “You didn’t believe me.”</p><p>“I believed you,” Bryce protests. “But he’s so — <i>mean</i>. He told me my hair was stupid.”</p><p>Jared does not recall this comment. Did he use a Jared bathroom break to insult Bryce’s hair? That seems petty enough to be Stephen.</p><p>“Your hair’s not stupid,” Jared informs him. Bryce has very nice hair, as he should, considering how much time and money he spends on it.</p><p>“His hair’s stupid,” Bryce mutters. “And he called me a cradle robber! And kept calling me Coach Bryce!”</p><p>Jared was there for that, but he thought it was more because Bryce was like, coaching them through strategy. In hindsight it is more likely Stephen pointing out that Bryce was, in fact, Jared’s coach when they met, albeit tenuously. Jared really never should have told Stephen that. He’s never going to let it go. </p><p>Jared also understands a little better why Bryce scowled at him when Jared joined Stephen in calling him Coach Bryce. </p><p>“You make a very good coach though,” Jared says, putting a soothing hand on Bryce’s arm. </p><p>Bryce scowls.</p><p>“Just don’t sleep with any other prospects, I’d be super—” Jared breaks off to protect himself from a half-tackle from Bryce, laughing as Bryce gets a jab in to his side. </p><p>“On my deck,” Stephen says from above. “On my <i>deck</i>, children.”</p><p>“We’re not on your deck,” Jared says. They’re in the grass below it.</p><p>“No PDA on the Markson-Petersen property,” Stephen says.</p><p>Jared opens his mouth, considering Gabe kissed Stephen right in front of them like twenty minutes ago. Bryce went adorably pink about it.</p><p>“Unless your name is Stephen Petersen or Gabriel Markson,” Stephen adds before Jared can say a thing, then shuts the door on them. </p><p>“He’s so mean,” Bryce mumbles. “That wasn’t even PDA, I wrestle with Chaz all the time.”</p><p>Jared would raise an eyebrow, but he thinks he’d get tackled again. Plus he also used to wrestle with Chaz all the time. Chaz loves a good wrestling match. Jared’s wrestling matches with Chaz have a distinctly different tenor to them than his grappling with Bryce, particularly when Bryce decides he isn’t going to let Jared win. Stephen was maybe not off about the PDA part.</p><p>Jared hears a lock click, though he’s not too worried. Gabe will intercede if he has to. And it really is a nice day, the kind Jared can shut his eyes and suck in the sun and let himself drift for as long as they have a tactical break. </p><p>He’s sun sleepy when Gabe comes to retrieve them, and the strategy session devolves into sushi, the three of them fighting over the last tuna roll while Jared’s finishing off his chicken and edamame. Bryce is surprisingly bullish about it, but Gabe somehow emerges the winner.</p><p>The drive back to Elaine’s is nice, sun setting and Bryce pensive looking, one hand on the wheel and the other on Jared’s thigh.</p><p>“You’ve got a chance against them,” Bryce says when they take their exit.</p><p>“I know,” Jared says. It’d be bad walking into a series thinking you didn’t.</p><p>“We didn’t,” Bryce says. </p><p>Jared winces, because well — they didn’t. Didn’t have the offence, didn’t have the defence, didn’t have the structure or the goaltending or, well. They didn’t have a chance. The Canucks do; great goaltending all season, a shutdown D-pair that’s probably been the most consistent tandem in the playoffs, scoring coming from the first line down to the fourth. The Scouts are a juggernaut, but the Canucks are no slouch either.</p><p>The Scouts are better. </p><p>Six games later and Jared’s emptying out his locker, mumbling answers to the media, saying his goodbyes to the team, and the Scouts are going to play whoever wins the Eastern Conference Finals for the Stanley Cup. Jared hopes it’s the Caps and Raf scores the game winning goal and does a fly by giving the finger to Williams and Simcoe. That doesn’t sound like a particularly Raf move, but Jared’s not exactly being reasonable right now, all raw scraped nerves and hurt and a fucked up shoulder from a hard hit by Angelopoulos that probably should have sidelined him, but didn’t because it was the playoffs. </p><p>Bryce is super careful with his shoulder when he tucks himself around Jared at night, drives him to his consultation with the team doc, and wanders along the waterfront while Jared’s told it’s not as bad as it feels and leaves with a physio appointment and a list of exercises that are going to be un-fun, as sore as he is. They’ll have to find someone else for him when they head back to Calgary, but it’s not like that’ll be hard.</p><p>Jared does his stupid painful exercises for the stiffness, gets out of packing anything because, well, shoulder, so it’s Bryce who’s doing it while Jared supervises and occasionally insults his packing decisions just to get that huffy Bryce sigh. Bryce catches on to that sooner rather than later, and the only thing keeping Jared from getting tackled to the bed is said shoulder. </p><p>The swelling’s mostly gone and so’s the stiffness by the time they’re flying back to Calgary, the Caps and the Scouts battling it out. Raf doesn’t have any game winners, but he’s playing well, at least according to Bryce, who’s watching the games. Jared can’t make himself do it, everything too fresh, especially the disappointment. He wouldn’t be able to watch without imagining how it’d be if he was there instead. </p><p>Jared’s in his parents’ kitchen with Erin when he hears the whoop from the living room, Bryce and his dad, mom lost under how loud they are, and him and Erin shuffle out to watch the Caps surge over the boards to dogpile their goalie.</p><p>Jared is elated for Raf, who’s crying like a giant baby when he does his skate with the Cup, which Jared’s absolutely going to chirp him about. Is that elation possibly heightened by the fact that Raf winning means the Scouts didn’t? Absolutely, but elated all the same. He sends him a bunch of texts that probably get lost in the flood, though Grace does respond to one of his. Jared’s sure Raf’s going to be way too busy getting plastered to reply.</p><p><i>Take pictures I want to see drunk Raf</i>, Jared sends Grace. He’s seen him tipsy, but definitely not the level he’s going to get tonight. He hopes it’s hilarious.</p><p>Grace is clutch, and the group chat has a number of pictures of the partying the next morning. There’s a picture of Raf and Chapman looking absolutely shitfaced and more than half-asleep that’s particularly good, and Jared makes sure to save it for the purpose of mockery. Another very unflattering one Raf and Kurmazov the Senior, and Jared saves that one to send to Dmitry so he may use it for the purposes of mockery. Jared’s a giving linemate in that way.</p><p>And then it’s summer. Not that it wasn’t the offseason, not that Jared’s been out of the playoffs for weeks, but it feels like it now, the Cup handed out, the draft coming up, Awards, then free-agency. Bryce has already started training, and Jared and Chaz will start when Raf gets back to Calgary, and it’s another season over, and Jared’s not a Cup winner, but he did get all the way to the Conference Finals. Silver linings that don’t really dampen the disappointment, but do leave him more optimism than he would be left with if he was still with the Oilers.</p><p>The media’s sharpening their knives about Bryce some more now that the Cup’s been awarded, now that everything’s wrapped up with a ribbon of hindsight, and Jared turns the alerts off after a few days because they make him dimly furious in a way Bryce notices, and he doesn’t want — they get this time, this lull between seasons, and then they have to part again, and Jared’s not going to let the fucking media interfere with that. </p><p>He meal preps for when he’s going to be wiped from training, and starts making plans with Chaz and Raf, going back and forth with Arvan about his nutrition plan for training, and Bryce comes home tired from training and inhales everything Jared puts in front of him, and it’s quiet, the happiness, not the same highs and lows of a season, just the simple lack of the ache of separation, the salve of falling asleep in the same bed, of Bryce hitting his alarm immediately and trying to sneak around in the mornings so he doesn’t wake Jared up, Jared pretending he’s still asleep so Bryce doesn’t feel guilty, Bryce probably pretending he actually thinks Jared’s asleep, the lull of knowing his days will be planned out, him and Raf and Chaz pushing each other all day and go home to the people they love at night. Chaz gets that last part year round, the fucker, but for Jared it’s something else.</p><p>It’s a quiet kind of happiness, a kind that Jared knows won’t last, so he makes sure to enjoy it while it’s there.</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>The War Room -- which is a fucking stupid and corrupt as shit waste of taxpayer dollars to promote fossil fuel -- was actually publicly announced a few weeks after that strategy session takes place. But giving the finger to Jason Kenney and the UCP apparently beats out Accurate Chronology in my level of priorities. </p><p>That POS  literally made one of his first priorities after taking office to change legislation so as to allow schools to out kids to their parents without their consent  (I could go on and on about other corrupt, shitty, irresponsible policy decisions have been made by the pathetic Tea Party Wannabe UCP party in the less than two years since he was elected, but you didn't come for a Fuck Jason Kenney speech). Jared would Not Be A Fan.</p></blockquote></div></div>
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